The
2011 draft now less than one month away, and the Rangers scouting and front
office staff is looking through many prospects to see who they want to select
with the 15th overall selection. With the current state of the Rangers defense both at the NHL
and prospect level one would expect that New York will look for offense in the
first round of the draft hoping to find an impact scorer. There are a
number of offensive prospects that could be available at 15. We have
already looked at Mark
Scheifele, Mark
McNeill, Zack
Phillips, Joel
Armia, Sven
Bartschi, Ty
Rattie, Matt
Peumpel
Today
Vladislav Namestnikov of
the London Knights in the Ontario Hockey League becomes the next to be looked
at in a draft preview. Namestnikov came
over to the OHL this year, much like Alexander Burmistrov, to adapt to the
North American game in advance of the NHL draft and show his commitment to
playing here. In his first season with
the Knights he tallied 30 goals and 38 assists in 68 games.
In
the Final Central Scouting Rankings he came it at 11 after being 17 during the
midseason rankings period. He came
The
NHL.com mock drafts have
him all over the board with one sending him to Calgary at 13, one to New York
at 15 and one having him slide all the way to 28 where the Toronto Maple Leafs
would select him.
Kirk
Luedeke of Bruins
Draft Watch’s:
Skilled Russian came over to the OHL this season and played very well, finishing second to Bruins prospect Jared Knight (25 goals 70 points) in scoring for London with 30 goals and 68 points in as many games. He's a late-92 birthdate who made an immediate impact with his team and adjusted well to the North American game. Namestnikov led all Knights players with 30 markers this season and has high-end skills and nice wheels. He's very average-sized at 6-0 and about 170, so will have a lot of off-ice work to do in order to get his body ready for the pro hockey grind, but he's highly adept at handling the puck, setting up the play and thinks the game at an advanced level. He speaks perfect English, as he spent much of his youth in the U.S. and Canada while his dad, Evgeny, was playing in the NHL and AHL. His uncle, Slava Kozlov is a Stanley Cup champion and 800+ point scorer in the NHL, so Namestnikov's sterling blood lines will help. He's a typical skilled European player who is very good offensively, but is still a work in progress in terms of his defense, but there is some upside here for sure.
Namestnikov is a very crafty player. His playmaking ability is definitely his biggest asset. He has the stickhandling ability to slow the game down in the offensive end, is patient enough to allow the right play to develop, and has the vision to find open teammates. He is also very deceptively quick. He'll skate casually down the wing with the puck, and then all of sudden turns on the afterburners and will beat defenders to the outside. In terms of his overall ability, it's not bad. He has some feistiness to him and is generally unwilling to become physically intimidated. He's also a fairly solid two way player and will make an effort to backcheck. That being said, I found that he could become invisible during stretches. He's not an incredibly "flashy" player and a guy you're going to notice on every shift. To be honest, being a late birth date, I thought he would have had a more consistent season in London. Moving forward, I'm just not sure he'll develop into an elite offensive talent. Being slightly undersized, and lacking a pure dynamic ability in his game, I don't see him becoming a number one offensive center you can lean on. But he has enough talent and smarts to be that number 2 guy every team needs. A guy you can pair with a bigger forward and a talented goal scorer and have a productive unit.
A very skilled offensive center. A reliable finisher. A good passer and playmaker. An excellent skater. Takes advantage of open space very well. Needs to gain strength. (Matias Strozyk)
The
Scouting Report (Ranked 39, midseason)
Came into the season with very high expectations but just hasn’t managed to find his groove offensively as the Knights as a whole have struggled to find some cohesion up front. Namestnikov is a smooth skater who can move up and down the ice fairly effortlessly and also is a very good puck mover. He sees the ice well and makes a lot of smart decisions with the puck which makes his linemates a lot better. Really lacks a lot of strength which is a big issue for him as he does get pushed around a bit, and he really needs to find a way to add some weight in the future.
The Rangers do need offensive
skill and Namestnikov seems to possess it with his passing ability and quick wrist shot that has allowed him to score. The problems include his one way play and lack of strength, but his one-way play, more than his
lack of ideal size, is what is likely to turn the Rangers off of taking him at
15.
